They have different usernames but are obviously the same seller. I asked them who makes it and what state it ships from (they said it ships from the factory). They said it is Latexco latex and it ships from CA.
I’ve seen in a couple posts that Latexco uses Radium talalay. Is this really the case? The auction says it is made in the US so from what I’ve read that would automatically be LI. But if the seller is saying it’s Latexco and an ILD of 17-20 instead of a straight 19 so… which is it?
Part of the difficulty of buying from an “unknown” seller is that you don’t know for sure what you are really buying. While they do have good feedback … I would doubt that 99% of people could really tell the difference between Talalay and other types of latex. In addition to this it would be impossible to know if they are selling used or comfort returns unless you know and trust the seller.
Latexco is the distributor for Radium Talalay but they sell wholesale only and to my knowledge they don’t drop ship individual items for their customers. Radium Talalay is made in Holland. Sleep Comp (Latexco West) does have their headquarters in Buena Park California.
Latexco pours their own Dunlop latex toppers in North America but they don’t make Talalay.
I doubt that any of these are from Latex International but again there is no way to know for sure what they are selling or where it came from without knowing and trusting the vendor. Prices are good if it really is what they are saying it is.
Phoenix -
Latexco claims to have developed a “third” proprietary latex production process over the years that’s “inspired” by the Dunlop process, and outlined here. Can you please share anything you may know or find out about the “Latexco Process” and how it is an improvement on the Dunlop process? I believe they claim their products shouldn’t be considered the same as Dunlop latex, maybe just for marketing purposes?
Thank you!
The process that Latexco is describing is basically the Dunlop process and there is no doubt that this process has been refined over the years and that the “gap” between the consistency of Dunlop and Talalay has been narrowed. There are also for example variations of how polyfoam is produced that results in more consistent results or higher performance foam although it is still basically the same process with various refinements as technology and research makes continuous improvements possible.
So overall … I would “classify” the “Latexco” process as a refinement of the Dunlop process itself rather than a completely new process. Having said that … there is no doubt in my mind that what they are producing is a high quality “Dunlop” latex foam.
In my discussions with various people who are very knowledgeable about the different foam manufacturing processes (including Latexco itself) … they have said that they were impressed with the quality and cost/benefits of the latexco Puralux for example which uses a different “Dunlop” variation yet (produced in a continuous pour process), is produced in the US, and is a legitimately soft Dunlop latex foam that competes well with Talalay in terms of cost, consistency, and softness although it is still “different”.
All Dunlop though is different from Talalay because it all has “settling” as part of the process and the cell structure and performance and “feel” is different … but both can be very high quality materials.
There is some interesting information here about some of the different latex production methods that have been tried over the years although now it is mostly variations of the Talalay and Dunlop processes. It is a long and very technical read and starting on page 263 includes information about the Dunlop process, the Talalay process, the Dow process, the Crown Rubber process, the Revertex process for those who are interested as well as some great information both before and after this section. You need to be a mathematician or foam chemist though (which I’m not) to understand all of it but it (and other more technical information) sure has some interesting information included in it
I haven’t made any decision since my first post here. This is what the seller was advertising/saying:
Talalay latex
Made in USA
Ships from factory
Ships from CA
Made by Latexco
Based on what I’ve read all of these couldn’t be true as Latexco doesn’t make talalay and any talalay from them is apparently from Radium which wouldn’t be made in the USA or ship from a factory in CA. This also seems to rule out LI as they don’t have any factories in CA.
The information you obtained seems to support this although it suggested what latexusa was selling could be LI talalay…
However, looking at latexusa on eBay shows that they have not relisted their 1" and 1.5" talalay auctions. More interesting is that fact that they are now selling (drum roll) Puralux! Puralux fits all of the above items except that it is not talalay, although someone might think it feels talalay-like. And the Puralux 1" and 1.5" are the same for queen as the recently-ended talalay auctions. Hmm…
So among the discrepancies in the auctions, the addition of Puralux auctions seemingly replacing their talalay auctions, and increases in prices since I first found it (queen 2" was $229 then $249 and now $289), I will look elsewhere for real talalay.
